Despite a horrific start to their campaign, Petr Cech has branded his former club Chelsea FC as the favourites to clinch their sixth Premier League title this season.
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The 33-year-old goalkeeper completed a cross-city transfer from Stamford Bridge to the Emirates Stadium this summer and has already become a fan favourite amongst the Gunners faithful. However, the Blues still appear to be the apple of his eye, as evidenced by his interviews.
Chelsea FC have managed only eight points in as many games and the Premier League winning shot-stopper has been surprised by their dip. He stated that he could no longer evaluate their performance, but made an eyebrow-raising claim that they would go on to retain the title this season.
The Czech Republic international got a lot of stick after his gaffes against the Hammers on the opening day of the season and Arsenal were eventually written off as a result. However, they have bounced back with victories over high-flying Leicester City and Manchester United and Cech believes that they can put on a show this season.
“Their form surprises me because Chelsea are among the best in the Premier League,” Cech told iDNES (via Goal). “I am no longer there, so it is hard for me to evaluate what is going on. Anyway, the season is long and Chelsea are still favourites in my eyes.
“After the first defeat for us against West Ham, everyone said that we can never win anything big. Now we are again being compared to the most famous Arsenal, who didn’t lose during one season. I just know that we have a team that can fight for the title until last round.”
Arsene Wenger was widely criticized for selecting David Ospina in the Gunners ‘ opening two Champions League games which resulted in defeats, but Petr Cech handled the situation with professionally, insisting that he had to respect the decision of his manager. However, he told the Czech newspaper that he had wanted to guard the Arsenal goal in Europe.
“Twice Arsene Wenger has decided that David Ospina needs to play in the Champions League over me and I have to respect that. In such a big team and in such a long season it is not possible for a man to play all the time, though I obviously wanted to.”
Petr Cech already has four clean sheets to his name while his Chelsea FC counterparts in Thibaut Courtois and Asmir Begovic have only one between them. Arsene Wenger has definitely one-upped arch-nemesis Jose Mourinho rather spectacularly on this one.